It was a couple years ago, and hockey fans in Boston were starting to see the first real signs the Bruins were headed in the right direction. They had a goalie in Tim Thomas that was easy to root for and a physical team led by Zdeno Chara and Milan Lucic that the city started to embrace.

For Jack Parker, it was a long time coming. As the head hockey coach at Boston University, Parker benefits from a thriving local hockey scene.

“We want kids falling in love with the sport,” Parker told Sporting News at the time.

For that love affair to truly happen, Parker knew it would take more than the occasional trip to the playoffs.

To compete against the Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots—elite professional franchises that have won championships in the past decade—the Bruins needed to do something special.

“They have to win something, too,” Parker said. “If it’s one and done in the playoffs, the hype won’t be there. They have to get to the Stanley Cup.”

Finally, they’re here.

On Wednesday, the Bruins open the Stanley Cup finals in Vancouver, beginning their attempt to complete a Stanley Cup dream that has eluded the franchise since it won its second Cup in three years in 1972.

It’s a long time to make a city wait for a title, and not surprising, many sports fans in Boston have had their attention diverted elsewhere. It’s just too competitive a sports city to go that long and expect fans to stick around.

Now, they have the city’s attention. Now, they can capitalize.

“It’s huge. It’s a great sports town, there are a lot of loyal hockey fans there,” retired NHL star Keith Tkachuk told Sporting News. “With all the success other Boston teams have had, the Bruins have been waiting a long time for this. It’s real important.”

Tkachuk, a native of Melrose, Mass., still spends July in Cape Cod. His family is still in the Boston area. He runs into the diehard hockey fans when he’s back home, but the love affair is mostly with Bruins teams from the past.

That can change.

“With the Boston Bruins, the first thing that comes to mind is Bobby Orr,” Tkachuk said. “This can put Boston right up there with those teams.”

Aaron Ward played in Boston when things first started turning around under GM Peter Chiarelli, and he noticed how desperately some hockey fans in the area wanted a winner. There was a group of fans quick to embrace the Bruins again because in that part of the country, hockey is in the veins.

“This town’s been aching for a winner so long when it comes to the Bruins,” Ward told Sporting News.

But now, this group has a chance to expand beyond the diehards. It has a chance to capture the imagination of the entire city.

And Ward thinks, if they do, the Bruins could find a long-term place right next to the Red Sox and Patriots in the hearts of Boston sports fans. This has a chance to be a relationship that isn’t temporary as hockey bonds sometimes are in other U.S. cities.

“Undoubtedly,” Ward told Sporting News on Monday. “It’s a northeastern town. Hockey is synonymous with Boston—the college ranks, the developmental hockey, the minor hockey. People are just waiting.”

For the next couple weeks, Red Sox hats will be replaced by black and gold. The talk on sports radio and TV will turn to hockey even more than it has. If the Bruins can manage a win or two in Vancouver this week, the city of Boston is poised for something special when the Bruins fly back across the continent.

Much like Chicago did with the Blackhawks, Boston is the kind of sports town that will boil over with passion.

Just give it a reason.

“That’s not lost on players walking around town or watching TV,” Ward said. “Guys know, they notice. They absorb what’s being said, shown and portrayed in the city. It adds to the excitement.”

The competitive sports scene in Boston has made a tough job even more challenging for Chiarelli. Every time a different Boston sports franchise won a title or experienced success, the questions coming his direction were inevitable.